Exclusive Interview: Heroes Star Dania Ramirez

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We talk to the new Heroes cast member about her character, Maya, and her work in X-Men 3, Buffy and The Sopranos.

By Eric Goldman

Dania Ramirez's career has been on a very impressive roll lately. Last year she played the villainous Brotherhood member Callisto in X-Men: The Last Stand, before segueing into a recurring role on the final season of The Sopranos as Blanca, the girlfriend to A.J. Soprano. Her time on The Sopranos may be over, but now Ramirez is stepping into another huge show, as she joins Heroes this fall as a new regular cast member.

Ramirez plays Maya, and like so much on the show, there are plenty of secrets pertaining to her character that will be revealed on screen. What little is known includes the fact that Maya is introduced alongside her twin brother, Alejandro (Shalim Ortiz). I spoke to Ramirez about her exciting new role on the hit NBC series, along with her time on Sopranos, working with Ian McKellen in X-Men, and her stint as a potential Vampire Slayer on Buffy the Vampire Slayer's final season.

IGN TV: You've had a busy year, so I'm curious if you even had a chance to see Heroes last season before you went in for the part.

Dania Ramirez: Well, actually I saw it all before I started working on the season. I hadn't seen it all when prior to starting the second season. I knew about the show, of course. I think there's about nine people in the world that have never heard of the show. So I'd heard of it, but I'd never watched it prior to them wanting to test me, partially because I was in New York for a long period of time filming the last season of Sopranos and then I was doing a film, so I was just busy, so I hadn't really caught up in watching the show. But right before I tested, one of my really good friends, who's such a huge fan, when I told her, she was like "Oh my god! You're crazy, you have to be on this show!" And she came over to my house and she had all the episodes from iTunes, and we just sat down and watched. And by episode eight, I just couldn't stop watching! I was obsessed!

Dania Ramirez as Maya in Heroes

IGN TV: So how excited were you when you actually got the role?

Ramirez: Oh my god, honestly, I'm blessed. The producers and I think some of the writers had seen my work on Sopranos, and so they wanted me to come in for anything at one point. Then eventually [Heroes executive producer] Tim Kring said he was creating a Latin character and they were like "Oh, let's look at this girl." So when they called me, and had me test, they never opened the audition to anybody else. They wanted me to be good and nail it and all I had to do was not mess it up. No pressure! [Laughs]

IGN TV: Given how secretive the show is, how much detail were you given when you came in to test for it?

Ramirez: Nothing. I mean I was given little hints. I knew that I was going to have some kind of ability that wasn't very positive. I knew that I was going to be dealing with more of the darker side of having an ability. I wasn't told what that was going to be. At the time, they were still decided where I was going to be from. They knew that they wanted me to be Latin and they knew where the first episode was going to be filmed, but they didn't know if that's where I was going to be from or not. And I just found out like two weeks ago that they made my character Dominican. So now my character's from the Dominican Republic and it's really exciting, because you know, we don't really get a lot of play in my country! I'm from the Dominican Republic, so it's kind of cool to be able to play a role and speak my native language and play someone from my country.

IGN TV: What else can you tell us about Maya?

Ramirez: Well, you know I have a twin brother. Somehow my ability&#Array; It doesn't necessarily depend on him, but I need him. I can't tell you why or how! [Laughs] I can tell you that I've done something really horrific and I have a deadly ability. Because of this, I'm on the run from the cops and also trying to make my way up north to the U.S. to find answers and maybe an explanation for what's happening to me.

IGN TV: What's the relationship like between Maya and her brother?

Ramirez: Well, they're twins, so they're very connected. There's a lot of things that happen. It's really hard for me to explain to you right now, but they're very close, but there's a lot of injustices that happen to them along their journey and a lot of things that happen between them that change them as people and that's going to affect their relationship and also affect the way that she deals with her ability.

IGN TV: I assume it will be a big relief for you after it airs and you can talk more about it.

Ramirez: I know! It will be, because it's so hard! One, because I really love it, so I just really want to share it with everybody. So that, and also because it's so hard to do an interview and not really give information, you know what I mean? I keep dodging the question or going around it in some way.